holding on to what's GOLDEN

As some of you may know, last weekend, I caught my first carp on a fly rod. I was floating the Missouri River with guide Jared Edens and owner John "Scumliner" Arnold of Headhunters Fly Shop looking for some it's trouts rising for the buffet of bugs (Mother's Day Caddis, March Browns, Blue Winged Olives, and some weird Trico-ey mayfly) that were hatching. Around 3, the high sun started to take it's toll and the bugs weren't coming off well. In the start of the float, John had mentioned that we would potentially have a shot at carp during the float. He asked if I would be interested. Being a sugar lips virgin, I said "Yes." Fast forward to 3 o'clock in the afternoon, John double checked with me and asked, "Are you serious about this carp?" I replied, "Yes."

So, we took an hour break from catching gaggles of trout on the Missouri to stalk some backwater carp. The carp has it's fair share of haters, but, they are worthy fish on the fly. Sore forearms, folded six weights, purring reels, and gold. During my five plus minute fight with my carp, Jared made it a double. A carp double. No footage to verify that. Just yelling. It happened. Trust me, I am a fly fishing blogger. After our carp break, we resumed hunting rising fish on the Missouri. The dry fly eating trout of the Missouri will grace the next YGF video. For now, enjoy fly fishing for Missouri River carp in HD.

Music: Jurassic 5 "What's Golden?"

Sugar Lips: 1st Carp on the Fly

This weekend, a float on the Missouri with Headhunters looking for rising trout was interrupted by a backwater filled with schools of cruising carp. Scumliner did a little recon and our short leash nymph rigs were quickly switched out for unweighted leech patterns. Five casts in...I saw a cruiser. I cast to him. He turned on it. Strip set. Now, two days later. My forearm is still sore. I like carp.

Like me, they look better in person.

Unlike my continued unsuccessful quest for pike, I can now cross off carp from my list. I thought it would different.

Sleep, Dreams, and the Birthday Donut

It's December in Montana and winter hitting us hard.....LIES. It was over 40 F this past weekend, so Bucko, Blakely, and Matt Breuer (of Ponoi River Co.) traveled over to the Mo to harass some of it's trouts. We stopped by Headhunters Fly Shop in the morning and caught up with SOL and Sara. It was a relaxing day on the water, for sure. Several good trout came to hand. Breuer and Blakely dropped spey bombs all over the river, while Bucko and I caught fish with our single handers. It was a little tougher to fish with three people. Our next trip with this motley crew will involve boats. It was Blakely's birthday, so we stopped and got a fabled Birthday Donut from the Donut Hole in Helena.

I got a chance to test out Glacier Glove's Pro Angler Glove. While conditions weren't ideal for testing gloves with the temperatures ranging into the 40s, I gave them a thorough inspection. Look for a review of the gloves in the next couple days. Also stayed tuned because Glacier Glove was generous enough to provide a pair of Pro Angler Gloves for YGF's first gear giveaway.

If you haven't had a chance, check out my interview on the Fish Schtick.

Enjoy the video in HD on vimeo. Music from The Roots "Sleep."

Mo Water on the Mo and the F3T

When we left for the Missouri this past Friday, it was flowing at about 18,000 cfs below Holter Dam. When we arrived in Craig on Friday night, the Mo was flowing at 21,000 cfs. This 3k rise in water was a recipe for bad fishing. The day of poor fishing was confirmed back in Craig as many of our fellow fisherman shared our luck. To be expected I suppose. Rising water always displaces fish and they need time to adjust to the new conditions. Instead of catching a lot of trouts, I tried my hand at casting on the recently submerged Craig campground; I caught one 12" brown trout; I checked out the worm hatch; and I was heckled.

We went to Craig for more than just fishing. The F3T was in town and Headhunters had a gaggle of pre-film activities planned for the night. There was free bbq, a $1 dry fly sale, vendors, free beer, a casting contest, free bbq, free beer, free films, free swag, and other free things. After a day of skunktastic fishing, free food, beer and swag was a nice pick-me-up. The guys at Headhunters know how to have a good time. Bucko took second in the casting competition. He lost by one point. If he had managed to strip off 2 extra feet of line, he would have taken home a knife and a hat and the pride of being the best. Instead, he just got a hat and the title of the best loser. I didn't take any video or pictures of the celebration. But, SOL and John Arnold of HH were all over the place taking photos and hopefully they will make it on to the Headhunters blog in the near future. I also ran into Zach from False Casts and Flat Tires (another Missoula-based fly fishing blog). His camera was in tow, so look for some pictures from the festivities over on FCFT.

All talk, some fish

My friends Bucko, Laura, and I went to the Missouri River this weekend. The forecast for Saturday was supposed to be in the low 50s, partly cloudy/party sunny/cloudy with a 20% chance of precipitation. Great fishing weather. With everybody and their mother fishing the Bitterroot's skwala stonefly hatch, we had high hopes for some superb surface action and big Mo trout on streamers.

When we checked in with SOL and Scumliner at Headhunters Fly Shop in Craig, they told us that the nymphing had been slower than usual and most people seemed to be having success swinging streamers. The surface action was patchy, but present. They also told us that it seemed like all of the Mo's rainbows had left the river and began to spawn, as evidenced by the majority of people's quarry being brown trout. By the way, if you ever go to the Missouri, I highly recommend Headhunters Fly Shop.

The weather seemed to be cooperating and an epic day of fishing was about to be had. I started out the day with a 14 inch brown trout - a small Missouri trout to say the least. I bumped my way into a pod of feeding browns and was able to swing the Original to them and elicited several strikes. Finally, I was able to wrangle a 19" brown to my net. Noon arrived and while it was snowing and the temperature had stayed in the 30s, the day was off to a solid start. I was catching fish.

Somewhere between noon and 3:00 pm, the productive fishing fell apart. The temperature never rose into the 50s. It seemed to stay in the low to mid 40s. There was more wind than expected and clouds dominated the sky. We left our original stretch of water and headed upstream only to find a gentleman in a boat fishing to rising fish. However, this guy was no more than a rod's length from the boat launch at the Silver Bridge. A frustrating sight to say the least. As a wade fisherman, it is more than annoying to see someone fishing "wader's water" in a boat. You have the advantage of the boat, use it and let those of us on foot to cover the water closer to the put-ins. We left the Silver Bridge and went upstream to Holter Dam. Fished below the dam for 15 or 20 minutes, then returned to the Silver Bridge, only to find the same guy in the same boat about 20 yards downstream from the put-in. Did I mention this guy missed three or four fish on the surface then at least two while nymphing?

At the end of the day, I brought three fish to hand. Bucko managed a tiny rainbow and Laura was skunked. Not the epic day we had hoped for.

I am trying something a little bit different with this video. Since, the fishing was slower than we hoped, I decided to include some of the conversations that were had on the way up to the Mo. Unfortunately, the microphone in the Flip doesn't capture sound that well, so my voice is the clearest. Bucko's comes and goes and Laura's is nearly non-existent. Topics included: the vaunted South-Weastern Conference (spelling intended), the Birthday Donut from The Donut Hole of Helena, the Belt Rock Supergroup, mica-rich environments, bleeping out swear words, the Chappelle Show, streamers, sarcastic encouragement, and heckling of the boat ramp fishing man in a boat. Topics not caught on camera: my domination over my fellow anglers and options for travel within Helena (did you know that it doesn't matter which direction you turn in Helena, you will end up at your intended destination. Left or Right? It doesn't matter.)

If you like your YGF without three idiots talking, I have provided the no-talking cut (see V2). If you want to venture into the black hole that is our conversations, check out the V1 cut. Let me know which one you prefer. I don't think I will do another video like this, with talking throughout, but I want to include some in the future.

Double Rainbow Trout on the Mo

Went to the Mighty Mighty Mo this weekend to fish for it's monster rainbows and browns. Stopped by Headhunters Fly Shop for some nice flies and good advice. Fished between Holter Dam and Craig. With party cloudy to mostly sunny weather in the mid- to high 30s, we were hoping to get into some midgy dry fly action. But, when 12:30 pm hit, the wind came with it and all hopes for dry fly fishing were dashed. There were some sporadic rises, but never enough to fish to risers. It was nice to see large trout feeding at the surface during these long winter months. While we didn't get into any monsters, Bucko and I caught some solid rainbows between 17 and 20 inches. I ended up with two rainbows, both around 19 inches. Bucko caught 7 trout, but he also caught two whitefish, so that hurts his overall score. I did have a shot at a 19 to 21 inch brown trout later in the day, but it's acrobatic run loosened the size 18 lightning bug out of it's mouth.

I spent all day with water up to my right thigh. I have some massive leak in my waders that I cannot find. My left leg feels left out of the water party. It can't wait until spring and summer when it will finally get a chance to feel the rush of cold water during the wet wading season.

The highlight of the trip was the wintery double we brought to the net. More than 3 feet of rainbow represented in two nice specimens. Yes, the famed Double Rainbow. In this video, I pay tribute to the double rainbow guy. If you haven't seen it yet, do it now. Then watch this (in HD on vimeo).


Double Rainbow Trout on the Mo from Ivan Orsic on Vimeo.